On Wednesday 6 January, Peter Stano, the spokesperson for the European External Action Service, called for the immediate release of more than fifty political dissidents arrested the previous day.
“The coordinated arrest of more than fifty pro-democracy activists on charges of subversion under the National Security Law sends a signal that political pluralism is no longer tolerated in Hong Kong”, said the spokesperson, who also called for them to be released.
“The National Security Law is being used to crush dissent and stifle the exercise of human rights and political freedoms that are protected by Hong Kong’s Basic Law and China’s international law and obligations”, he added.
In response to questions about possible measures against China, the spokesperson noted that the EU had already taken action in July (see EUROPE 12538/10) and that “if necessary, other measures could be contemplated”.
“We are following the negative developments very closely and will respond”, he promised, before going on to explain that, once the situation had been assessed, consideration would be given to the best measures to adopt. Stano stated that the Foreign Affairs Council meeting on 25 January might look into the matter.
In a joint statement also issued on Wednesday 6 January, the co-chairs of the European Parliament’s Hong Kong Watch Group called for urgent action by the Presidents of the European Council and the European Commission and by the governments of the Member States.
Reinhard Bütikofer (Greens/EFA, Germany), Miriam Lexmann (EPP, Slovakia), Petras Auštrevičius (Renew Europe, Lithuania), Juan Fernando López Aguilar (S&D, Spain) and Anna Fotyga (ECR, Poland) said: “We call on EU leaders to honour their past promises to the people of Hong Kong, to lodge strong and public protests with China over this act of oppression and bear them in mind in all aspects of our relations with the PRC, to take the initiative to raise this issue at the UN Security Council, and to start the procedure to sanction at least against (Hong Kong Chief Executive) Carrie Lam under the EU’s new Global Human Rights Sanctions Mechanism”.
The MEPs also appealed to the Member States and the international community to provide a lifeboat policy for persecuted Hong Kong democrats. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)